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Focus on compassion, not fear and blame, in reacting to Boston Marathon bombings

Boston Marathon Finish Lin.JPG

Running shoes hang on a fence at a makeshift memorial near the Boston Marathon finish line in Boston's Copley Square Thursday, April 25, 2013 in remembrance of the Boston Marathon bombings.
(The Associated Press)

In times of great threat or tragedy like the one occasioned by the bombings at the Boston marathon, our minds always seem to want to find a reason why things happened, or better yet, someone to blame. It somehow makes us feel better if we have someone to pin it on. But our spiritual traditions advise us not to look "out there" but rather "in here." They also suggest that we look in a different way.

When we operate out of fear and then leap to blame, we are probably using the wrong part of ourselves to find the meaning and the answers we seek. The hard-wiring of our rational minds will inevitably take us to the impasse of "us versus them." And that invites us to scapegoat those whom we see as different. But only as we find an inner place of stability and enter the undividedness of the heart can we truly read the signs of the times.

Two weeks ago we saw the hand of God in the unselfish actions of those race officials, the law enforcement personnel, and the spectators themselves who raced directly and immediately into the fray in order to assist those who had been injured. And we also saw the witness of compassion in the runners who, having already covered the 26 miles of the marathon, ran straight to the hospital in order to give blood for the victims. Those who helped represented the wide and wonderful diversity of our nation. They were people of all ethnicities and faiths.

Let us not sink down into the mire of accusation and blame against people of any particular ethnicity or faith tradition. Our strength lies in our openness to diversity, and our willingness to be led by our compassion. This is what makes us one as a nation under God.